1.
Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire

2.
Politics of Azerbaijan
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Executive power is exercised by the president and the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Judiciary is nominally independent of the executive and the legislature. Following a massacre of Azerbaijanis at Khojali in Nagorno-Karabakh in March 1992, Mutalibov resigned, among its reforms, the PFP dissolved the predominantly Communist Supreme Soviet and transferred its functions to the 50-member upper house of the legislature, the National Council. Elections in June 1992 resulted in the selection of PFP leader Abulfaz Elchibey as the second president. During the summer of 1992, Elchibey secured the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Azerbaijan. At the same time, Elchibeys government established the national Caspian Navy, Elchibey was formally deposed by a national referendum in August 1993, and Aliyev was elected to a 5-year term as President in October with only token opposition. Aliyev won re-election to another 5-year term in 1998, in an election marred by serious irregularities, the Speaker of Parliament stood next in line to the President, but the constitution was changed at the end of 2002, now the premier is next in line. This was done to make it possible for the son of the 80-year-old Heydar, İlham Aliyev to succeed his father, in the October 2003 presidential elections, İlham Aliyev was announced winner while international observers reported several irregularities. He was sworn in as president at the end of the month, the head of state and head of government are separate from the country’s law-making body. President is the head of the state and head of executive branch, the people elect the president, the Vice President is appointed by the President and the Prime Minister is nominated by the President and confirmed by the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. The President appoints all cabinet-level government administrators, since 2008, the Constitution of Azerbaijan was amended, abolishing any term limit for the office of President. The National Assembly of Azerbaijan is the branch of government in Azerbaijan. The assembly is headed by the Speaker of Milli Majlis assisted by the First Deputy Speaker, ogtay Asadov is the current speaker of the assembly, Ziyafet Asgarov is the First Deputy Speaker and, Bahar Muradova and Valeh Alasgarov are deputy speakers. Azerbaijan is considered a one party dominant state, opposition parties against the New Azerbaijan Party are allowed, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. In the 2010 parliamentary elections, the ruling New Azerbaijan Party strengthened its grasp on the legislative, President Ilham Aliyevs ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party got a majority of 72 out of 125 seats. The other seats went to independent, government-leaning candidates. The two major parties lost their previous 8 seats, thus resulting in an opposition-free Parliament. The Central Election Commission said turnout was 50. 1%, out of a total 4.9 million people eligible to vote, opposition leaders suggested the low turnout was due to candidate disqualifications by the CEC, and consequent discouragements to vote after their choice of candidate was excluded

3.
Constitution of Azerbaijan
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The Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted on 12 November 1995 by popular referendum. It was amended on 24 August 2002 and again on 18 March 2009 and it carries the highest legal force in Azerbaijan as per article 147. It also bans the usurpation of power, section 2 establishes the basic principles, aims and role of the state of Azerbaijan, as well as state symbols, principles of foreign relations and the official language. Section 5 establishes the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, its powers, section 6 establishes the post of President of Azerbaijan and the Presidents requirements, duties, capacities and powers, as well as those of his Cabinet. Section 7 establishes the Azerbaijani judicial system and Constitutional and Supreme Courts, section 8 establishes the autonomous government of the Nakhichivan region and its legislature. Section 9 establishes the structure of municipalities in Azerbaijan. Section 11 establishes the process of amending the Constitution through referendum, section 12 establishes the process of adding provisions to the Constitution through referendum. Constitution Constitutional law Constitutional economics Constitutionalism English translation of the Constitution on Presidential website Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan at www. WIPO. int

4.
President of Azerbaijan
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The country of Azerbaijan is a semi-presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government. The current President of Azerbaijan is Ilham Aliyev, the president rules through his office at Presidential Apparatus, consisting of a group of secretaries and departmental ministers. Additionally, there is a Cabinet of Ministers and a Security Council, among the agencies directly subordinate to the President is the Special State Protection Service. A candidate for office must be a citizen of Azerbaijan at least 35 years old, the election of the President is mainly regulated by the Presidential Election Law and the Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights. Each faction in the National Assembly has the right to nominate a candidate for the presidential elections, the minimum number of signatures for a presidential candidate fielded by a political party with no parliamentary representation is 40,000, before amendments to the law. After the oath of office has been taken by the elected president and these devices are used to display the rank of his office and are used on special occasions. The standard is a version of the Azerbaijani flag, charged in the center with the Azerbaijani coat of arms. Golden fringe is added to the standard, copies of the standard are used inside his office, other state agencies, and while the president is traveling in a vehicle inside Azerbaijan. A2,3 ratio version of the flag is used when the President is at sea and this is the most used symbol to denote the presence of the Azerbaijan President. The President is invested with extensive rights to implement the states foreign policy, the President determines Azerbaijans position in international affairs and represents the state in international relations, conducts negotiations and signs ratification documents. The primary working Presidents residence is the The Presidential building on Istiglaliyyat Street in Baku, the current home Presidents residence is Zagulba. Also, the President has several vacation residences outside of Baku, Novkhani, Novkhani, Absheron Rayon Khoshbulaq, Daşkəsən, Dashkasan District National transport services for the Azerbaijan President are provided by the Special Purpose Garage. The SPG is a unit within the Special State Protection Service

5.
Ilham Aliyev
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Ilham Aliyev is the fourth and current President of Azerbaijan, in office since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party, Aliyev was born was born in December 24,1961, in Baku. In 1977, Aliyev entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, in 1985 he received a PhD degree in history. From 1985 to 1990 Aliyev lectured at MSUIR, from 1991 to 1994, he led a group of private industrial-commercial enterprises. In 1994-2003, he was the vice-president, and later the first vice-president of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan and he had been actively involved in the implementation of Heydar Aliyev’s oil strategy. He is an author of research works on geopolitical aspects of oil strategy of sovereign Azerbaijan. He holds a degree of doctor of political sciences, since 1997, Mr. Ilham Aliyev is the President of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev married Mehriban Pashayeva in Baku on 22 December 1983 and they have three children, Leyla, Arzu and Heydar. Apart from his native Azerbaijani, he is fluent in English, French, Russian, Ilham Aliyev is the son of Heydar Aliyev, who was President of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003. In May or June 1994, Ilham Aliyev was appointed as vice-president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, in 1995, Aliyev was elected to the Parliament of Republic of Azerbaijan, later he became president of the National Olympic Committee. From 2001 to 2003, Aliyev was the elected as the head of Azerbaijani delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, following that, in January 2003, he was elected as Deputy-Chairman and bureau member of PACE. In April of 2004, Mr. Aliyev was awarded a medal and diploma of honorable member of PACE for his participation in PACE events. In August 2003, two prior to the presidential elections, he was appointed as Prime Minister. The official results of the October 15,2003, elections gave victory to Ilham Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 with 87% of the polls, while opposition parties boycotted the elections. In a constitutional referendum in 2009, term limits for the presidency were abolished, the opposition claimed this to be a violation of the Azerbaijani constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The 2010 parliamentary elections produced a Parliament completely loyal to Aliyev, the Economist subsequently scored Azerbaijan at 140th place in its 2011 Democracy Index. Repeated protests were staged against Aliyevs rule in 2011, calling for more democracy, well over 400 violent protestors were arrested after protests began in March 2011. Opposition leaders, including Musavats Isa Gambar, vowed to continue demonstrating, Amnesty International in its Media Briefing of 2012 reported that the crackdown on the free speech has intensified in recent years

6.
Mehriban Aliyeva
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Mehriban Aliyeva was born in Baku, into a family described in Wikileaks cables as the single most powerful family in Azerbaijan. Her grandfather was noted Iranian-born Azerbaijani writer Mir Jalal Pashayev and her uncle Hafiz Pashayev was Azerbaijans first Ambassador to the United States. Aliyevas father Arif Pashayev is Rector of the National Aviation Academy in Baku, Mehriban Aliyeva finished secondary school in 1981 and married Ilham Aliyev, the son of Heydar Aliyev, in Baku on 22 December 1983. She continued her studies, in which she excelled, at the Azerbaijan Medical University and later at the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy, from which she graduated in 1988. From 1988–92, Mehriban Aliyeva worked at the State Research Institute of Eye Diseases of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow, two articles in The Times in 2005 described her as a qualified physician and former eye doctor. The Aliyevs have two daughters, Leyla and Arzu and a son Heydar, Leyla is the editor of Baku magazine, published by Azerbaijani Russian businessman Aras Agalarov, and is married to his son Emin Agalarov. In 1995, she established the Azerbaijani Culture Friends Foundation, in 1996, with financial support from Chevron, the foundation gave lifetime awards to six representatives of Azerbaijani art and culture. The foundation also sponsored performances in Baku of music by Antonio Vivaldi, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation also sponsors projects outside Azerbaijan, including helping to finance renovations at the Louvre Museum, Palace of Versailles, and Strasbourg Cathedral. In 2004, Mehriban Aliyeva became a designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, to honor her safeguarding of the heritage of Azerbaijan. In 24 November 2006, Aliyeva was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador of ISESCO for her attention to the children in need and help to improve their living conditions, in Azerbaijans 2005 parliamentary elections, she was elected to the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. She had previously broken with tradition to help campaign for her husband in 2003, on 21 February 2017 she was appointed Vice President of Azerbaijan, an office that was created through a constitutional referendum in 2016. On 6 March 2017 Central Election Commission terminated Mehriban Aliyevas deputy mandate per her request. M, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University Israel – Honorary doctor of the Israel Medical Academy Mehriban Aliyevas Official Website Azerbaijans first lady. A role model for Muslim women

7.
Prime Minister of Azerbaijan
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The Prime Minister of Azerbaijan is the head of government of Azerbaijan. The current prime minister is Artur Rasizade, due to the central role of the President in the political system, the activities of the executive branch are significantly influenced by the head of state. People who held those positions are referred to as the prime ministers. They may have also referred to as Premier of Ministers. The Prime Minister is the third-highest constitutional office in Azerbaijan, in the event of the Presidents death, resignation or impeachment, the Prime Minister is second in the line of succession, after the First Vice-President. Until September 2016, when the office of First Vice-President was created, the Prime Minister was first in line

8.
National Assembly (Azerbaijan)
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The National Assembly, also transliterated as Milli Majlis, is the legislative branch of government in Azerbaijan. Milli Majlis was the first secular republican parliament in the Muslim world, following the Russian Revolution in February 1917, a special committee consisting of deputees from Transcaucasian State Duma was created. In November, Transcaucasian Commissariat was created as the first government of independent Transcaucasia, the Sejm made up from representatives of three nations did not have a solid political platform as each nation looked after its own interests. This subsequently led to dissolution of the Sejm on May 25,1918, on May 27,44 Muslim deputees of the Sejm gathered in Tbilisi and established Azerbaijan National Council to form the government of Azerbaijan. Mammad Emin Rasulzade was elected its chairman, on May 28, the National Council passed a resolution proclaiming independence of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. On June 16, the National Council and the Azerbaijani government moved to Ganja, once the government was established, Azerbaijani was made the official state language. One of the priorities of the government before moving to Baku was to liberate Baku from Centrocaspian Dictatorship then in control of the city took place on September 15,1918. Alimardan Topchubashov was elected the Speaker of the Parliament, Hasanbey Agayev - Deputy Speaker, by the end of 1919, there were 11 various political party factions in the parliament represented by 96 deputies. During its 17-month existence, the parliament held 145 sessions with the last session being convened on April 27,1920 on the eve of Russian occupation of Azerbaijan, a total of 270 resolutions were sponsored,230 of which were passed. In January 1920, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was de facto recognized by the Peace Conference, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Azerbaijani Army, executed its generals and officers, and nationalized private industries. In May 1921, the first All-Azerbaijan Soviet Session made up of elected deputies from all regions of Azerbaijan convened in Baku. The elected deputies were mainly drawn from poor, uneducated, unprepared factory workers and villagers which facilitated complete rule from Moscow, the first session established the Azerbaijan Central Executive Committee consisting of 75 members and its board with 13 members. From 1921 through 1937, nine sessions of All-Azerbaijan Soviets were convened, in 1937, during the 9th session of the All-Azerbaijani Soviets a new Azerbaijan SSR Constitution was ratified and the new legislative body the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR was established. The first elections to Supreme Soviet took place on June 24,1938, out of 310 deputies elected,107 were workers,88 collective farmers and 115 educated civil servants. Seventy two of the deputies were women, due to the authoritarian nature of Soviet rule where most new initiatives were met as conspiracies against the state, the parliament was virtually ineffective. Due to multiple reforms and restructuring in the government of the Azerbaijan SSR in the 1970s-1980s, many legislative reforms including the ratification of the new Azerbaijan SSR Constitution of 1977 took place. After the demands of the Armenian SSR to transfer the NKAO region of Azerbaijan to Armenia, on October 18,1991 the Supreme Soviet passed a resolution confirming the restoration of the independence of Azerbaijan. The first Azerbaijani parliamentary election was held in late 1990, when the Supreme Soviet already held discussions on independence of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union, the 1995 parliamentary election was the first to be held after restoration of Azerbaijans independence

9.
Ogtay Asadov
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Ogtay Sabir oghlu Asadov is an Azerbaijani politician who has served as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan since 2005. Asadov was born in the village of Arevis in Syunik Province in Armenia and he graduated from the Machinery Manufacturing Technologies Department of the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. From 1976 on, Asadov worked as the assistant manager and then manager at the Baku Air Conditioners Plant, in 1996-2004, he was the President of the Absheron Su water management company and, in 2004-2005, he was the President of Azersu. He is a member of the International Water Association and he was elected to the National Assembly of Azerbaijan in the 2000 parliamentary elections and subsequently re-elected in 2005 from Absheron Rayon and 2010 from Binagadi district of Baku. On December 2,2005 he was elected the Speaker of the National Assembly by the members of the parliament and he is the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of CIS and to the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking Countries. He is also a member of the Political Council of the New Azerbaijan Party, Asadov is fluent in English and Russian. He is married and has two children, cabinet of Azerbaijan Government of Azerbaijan

10.
Elections in Azerbaijan
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Elections in Azerbaijan gives information on election and election results in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan elects on a level a head of state – the president. The President of Azerbaijan is elected for a term by the people, before a constitutional referendum changed this in 2009. The National Assembly has 125 members, before 2005,100 members were elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies and 25 members were elected by proportional representation. Since 2005 all 125 members are elected in single-seat constituencies, Azerbaijan is a one party dominant state. Opposition parties beside the New Azerbaijan Party are allowed but are considered to have no real chance of gaining power. On Sunday,1 November 2015, the most recent parliamentary elections were held, on Wednesday,9 October 2013, the most recent presidential election was held

11.
Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan
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Additionally, Azerbaijan is subdivided into 9 regions. This is not an administrative division, each region contains a number of districts. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic forms a separate, the 10th economic region, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh presently forms part of Azerbaijani rayons Khojavend, Shusha, Khojaly, the east portion of Kalbajar and the west portion of Tartar. In Soviet times the region was known as Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, however on November 26,1991, since then the territory of the autonomous oblast has been administratively split between the aforementioned rayons. As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, most of its territory is now under the control of ethnic Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic also controls a large part of southwestern Azerbaijan outside Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani rayons completely or partially in the NKR are noted in the list, the NKR does not recognise these rayons and has its own system of administrative division. The list below is for the part of Azerbaijan, excluding the rayons of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The seven districts and one municipality of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic are listed below

12.
Foreign relations of Azerbaijan
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USACC is co-chaired by Tim Cejka, President of Exxon Mobil Corporation and Reza Vaziri, President of R. V. Investment Group and Chairman of the Anglo Asian Mining Plc, Azerbaijan is one of the few countries with predominantly Muslim populations that shares a strategic alliance with Israel. Today, Israel is an arms supplier to the country. Azerbaijan also maintains relations with the European Union, in the framework of its Eastern European Neighbourhood Policy. Azerbaijan maintains diplomatic relations with 174 states and the European Union and this led to anti-Armenian rioting in Azerbaijan, with Azerbaijani militias beginning their effort to expel Armenians from the enclave. In 1992 a war broke out and pogroms of Armenians and Azeris forced both groups to flee their homes, in 1994, a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended the war but more than 1 million ethnic Armenians and Azeris are still not able to return home. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh remains unresolved despite negotiations, that are ongoing since 1992 under the aegis of the Minsk Group of the OSCE, in return they become lobbyists for Azerbaijan. This practice has been referred to as Caviar diplomacy. ESI also published a report on 2013 Presidential elections in Azerbaijan titled Disgraced, Azerbaijan, the report revealed the ties between Azerbaijani government and the members of certain observation missions who praised the elections

13.
Human rights in Azerbaijan
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Among other concerns, authorities have been accused of arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, severe beatings, torture, and forced disappearances. Despite the existence of independent news outlets, journalists who criticize the government are often harassed, imprisoned. In the 2013-14 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, President Ilham Aliyev, inherited power from his late father Heydar Aliyev, who maintained an extensive cult of personality. Ilham Aliyev has often criticized for failing to improve the situation of civil liberties from his fathers policies. Public demonstrations against the regime are not tolerated, and authorities often use violence to disperse protests. Since the Aliyev family first took charge in 1993, Azerbaijan has not had an election deemed free. Corruption is considered to be endemic in all areas of Azerbaijani politics, although Azerbaijan is nominally a representative democracy, recent elections there have widely been contested as fraudulent and seriously flawed. Azerbaijani media coverage of the election is considered to be biased in favor of the administration. Also, former President, Heidar Aliyev, is known to have filled the Central and Local electoral commissions with government supporters prior to various key elections since 2003, Azerbaijani non-governmental bodies were also banned from monitoring the vote. Irregular incidents such as voting chiefs running off with the ballots, ballot stuffing, multiple voting, during the 2013 election, an official smartphone app run by the Central Election Commission inadvertently released final election results, a day before voting locations had opened. The results showed Ilham Aliyev having won with 72. 76% of the votes, while the nearest opposing candidate, Jamil Hasanli. Azerbaijan has been criticized for bribing members and officials from international organizations to legitimize the fraudulent elections. Recently this has been the case with MEPs of the European Parliament, European Stability Initiative think tank has published a series of detailed reports exposing the vested interest of the observation missions participating in Azerbaijani elections. Up until June 2005, the Azerbaijani people did not enjoy freedom of assembly, the authorities denied opposition supporters the right to demonstrate or hold rallies in or near any city centres. Those attending opposition rallies that had not been sanctioned by the government were beaten, police were known to detain opposition activists, in an attempt to convince them into giving up their political work. Youth movement members and opposition members were detained for conspiring to overthrow the government, after the elections not a single opposition rally was allowed. In April 2014 RPT-European human rights reported that human rights, particularly freedom of expression, assembly. In Azerbaijan, torture, police abuse, and excessive use of force are rife, International pressure has been exerted on Azerbaijan to release its number of political prisoners

14.
Azerbaijani language
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The language has official status in Azerbaijan and Dagestan but it does not have official status in Iranian Azerbaijan, where the majority of Azerbaijanis live. It is also spoken to varying degrees in Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey and by diaspora communities, primarily in Europe. Azerbaijani is a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, modern literature in Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect mainly, while in Iranian Azerbaijan region it is based on the Tabrizi one. Azerbaijani evolved from the Eastern branch of Oghuz Turkic which spread to the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe, Persian and Arabic influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian. By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region, the historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods, early and modern. Early Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained a larger number of Persian. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate linguistic interchangeability between Oghuz and Kypchak elements in many aspects, despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semi-literate masses to read and understand literature. They all criticized the overuse of Persian, Arabic, and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style. Despite the wide use of Azerbaijani in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, after independence, Azerbaijan republic decided to switch back to the Latin script. The first examples of Azerbaijani literature date to the late 1200s following the Mongol conquest and were written in Arabic script, in the 1300s Kadi Burhan al-Din, Hesenoghlu, and Imadaddin Nasimi helped to establish Azerbaiijani as a language through poetry and other literary works. In 1875 Akinchi became the first Azerbaijani newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire and it was started by Hasan bey Zardabi, a journalist and education advocate. Following the rule of the Qajar dynasty Iran was ruled by Reza Shah who banned the publication of texts in Azerbaijani, modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect mainly, while in Iranian Azerbaijan it is based on the Tabrizi dialect. Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar is an important figure in Azerbaijani poetry and his most important work is Heydar Babaya Salam and it is considered to be a pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature and gained popularity in the Turkic-speaking world. It was translated more than 30 languages. In the mid-19th century Azerbaijani literature was taught at schools in Baku, Ganja, Shaki, Tbilisi, since 1845, it has also been taught in the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. Per the 1829 Caucasus School Statute, Azerbaijani was to be taught in all schools of Ganja, Shusha, Nukha, Shamakhi, Quba, Baku, Derbent, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Akhaltsikhe. Beginning in 1834, it was introduced as a language of study in Kutaisi instead of Armenian, in 1853, Azerbaijani became a compulsory language for students of all backgrounds in all of Transcaucasia with the exception of the Tiflis Governorate. Azerbaijani is one of the Oghuz languages within the Turkic language family, the International Organization for Standardization encodes North Azerbaijani and South Azerbaijani as distinct languages

15.
Azerbaijani Popular Front Party
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The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party is an opposition political party in Azerbaijan, founded in 1992 by Abulfaz Elchibey. After Elchibeys death in 2000, the party split into two factions, the wing led by Ali Kerimli and the classical wing led by Mirmahmud Miralioglu. During 5 November 2000 parliamentary elections, the party won 11. 0% of the vote and 6 out of 125 seats in the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. Its candidate Gudrat Hasanguliyev won only 0. 4% of the vote in the 15 October 2003 presidential elections. At the parliamentary elections of 6 November 2005, APF joined the Freedom block, the Popular Front of Azerbaijan was an organisation in Azerbaijan that united a number of informal public organisations into one, working towards independence from the Soviet Union. PFA came to unite a number of public organizations which were established in the 1980s to struggle for the independence of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union. As a result of this step, a large-scale campaign of public demonstrations. Later the movement was suppressed by the forces of the Ministry of Defense. Despite this fact, Popular Front of Azerbaijan was established and Yurd became a part of this movement. In September 1989 the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan, under pressure from PFA and its members in the SC, adopted the law on Economic Sovereignty of Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In order to stop the growing popularity of PFA, and to stop the pogroms of Armenians that left more than 130 Armenians dead, in January 1990. Some 130 civilians were killed and 600 wounded, the main purpose of the Baku operation, headed by Dmitriy Yazov - Minister of Defense of former USSR, was to destroy the political structures of PFA. In 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey, the leader of PFA, won the countrys first ostensibly democratic presidential elections, a period of political, social and economic reforms followed. The laws on parties, freedom of press, education. The country chose a pro-western liberal economic course and implemented successful monetary policy with the establishment of national currency, the most popular innovations were the administrative reforms and the reforms directed towards the creation of civil society. As the result of firm and consistent policies of PFA, Russian army was withdrawn from Azerbaijan in April 1993. Azerbaijan became the first republic in the former USSR and one of the first in the former Socialist bloc which succeeded in achieving a full, the president Abulfaz Elchibey was forced to leave the capital city. Thousands of people were arrested, members of PFA became victims of political terror, in fact, this was the second largest attack on PFA in order to destroy this organization completely, while the leader was out of the capital city

16.
New Azerbaijan Party
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The New Azerbaijan Party is the ruling political party in Azerbaijan. It was formed on 18 December 1992 by the former President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and it is now led by his son, Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father as the party leader and as President of Azerbaijan since 2003. The New Azerbaijan Party has been described as a party of power. Political scientists have stated that the party is based on nationalism and a personality cult centered on Heydar Aliyev. The partys stated ideologies are lawfulness, secularism, and Azerbaijani nationalism and it wants to build a social-oriented economy, and lists civil solidarity and social justice as the basis of its ideology. The founder of the party, Heydar Aliyev, was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until July 1991, the New Azerbaijan Party under Heydar Aliyev was conservative, including when it came to the culture and religion of Azerbaijan. The New Azerbaijan Party has always one of the main, if not the most important aspect. At the elections, the party won 62. 3% of the vote and 75 out of 125 seats. At the 2005 parliamentary elections, it won 62 out of 125 seats, at the 2010 parliamentary elections, it won 72 out of 125 seats. Presently, New Azerbaijan Party has 518,000 members, in the November 1,2015, Parliament Election, the New Azerbaijan Party won 70 out of 125 seats, thus losing 2 seats in the National Assembly since the last election. Ishiyama, John, Political Party Development and Party Gravity in Semi-Authoritarian States, the Cases of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In, Taiwan Journal of Democracy 4/1, 33-53, küpeli, Ismail, Stabilisierung autoritärer Herrschaft, Das Fallbeispiel Aserbaidschan

17.
Azerbaijani presidential election, 2008
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A presidential election was held in Azerbaijan on 15 October 2008. Ilham Aliyev of the New Azerbaijan Party was re-elected with 87% of the votes, the incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, was nominated by the New Azerbaijan Party for a second term on 3 August 2008. In response, an aide to Aliyev claimed that the opposition withdrew because it knew that President Aliyev would win the elections with a majority, a total of seven candidates filed to run in the election. Each of the candidates had to collect 40,000 support signatures, the candidates were limited to a four-week campaigning period by law. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, IRFS and RSF, the media showed bias in favor of Aliyevs candidacy, the election was observed by more than 500 international observers, mostly from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The OSCE said that there was progress in the elections compared to past ones, however it did not meet international standards, Azerbaijan should build on this achievement and address the remaining shortcomings that were noted. Avez Temirhan of the election-boycotting Azerbaijan Liberal Party said, This leadership is not legitimate, a total of seven candidates registered with the Central Election Commission. The incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, won the election with over 87. 34% of the votes, fuad Aliyev and Hafiz Hajiev, as in 2003, received fewer votes than supporting signatures. Eight polling places votes were invalidated

18.
Azerbaijani parliamentary election, 2015
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Parliamentary elections were held in Azerbaijan on 1 November 2015. The result was a victory for the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, the 125 members of the National Assembly were elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system. The elections were boycotted by the opposition parties, including Musavat. The results in constituency 90 were annulled due to irregularities after an appeal by two candidates, independent candidate Chingiz Asadullayev had been in the lead

19.
Civic Solidarity Party
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The Civic Solidarity Party is a political party in Azerbaijan. The partys leader is Sabir Rustamkhanli, who is originally a poet, the partys ideology is based on the universal political values of freedom, equality and solidarity. At the 2010 parliamentary elections, it won 3 out of 125 seats

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Civic Unity Party (Azerbaijan)
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The Civic Unity Party is an Azerbaijani political party established in 1999 in Moscow by the former President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutallibov. After the 2000 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the party split between two fractions, one led by Ayaz Mutallibov and the other led by Igbal Agazade. The latter fraction formed the Party of Hope, in 2003, Mutallibov split from CUP, joining the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan as its chairman. From then on, CUP was led by Sabir Hajiyev and participated in 2005 parliamentary elections, albeit nominally an opposition party, CUP officially supports the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev

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Motherland Party (Azerbaijan)
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The Motherland Party is an Azerbaijani political party established in 1990. Its membership consists primarily of Azerbaijanis who originate in Armenia but who live in the country as a result of the Karabakh War, the partys leader Fazail Agamali is a former deputy minister for social protection. The partys goal is to create a free, powerful, democratic, at the 2010 parliamentary elections, it won 2 out of 125 seats

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Azerbaijan Communist Party (1993)
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The Azerbaijan Communist Party is a communist party in Azerbaijan. AKP was set up in 1993 by Ramiz Ahmadov and registered by the Justice Ministry in 1994, AKP maintains close contacts with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and wants reunification with Russia while still being patriotic. In one occasion Ahmadov stated, we are Narimanovists, followers of the national, cultural, Nariman Narimanov was a moderately nationalist and leftist Azeri leader of the 1920s, and is viewed in retrospect as a forerunner of national communism. AKP often criticizes United States politics in the region and he also added that the great powers are making use of the Karabakh conflict for their own interests. AKP was strongly against the Azeri participation into the Iraq war and it often expressed solidarity to Palestinian people, to Cuba, on September 10,2007, party chief Ramiz Ahmadov died after a long illness. His body was sent for burial in his native Quba, from 2000 to 2005 Ahmadov had been a member of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. The chairman is now Rauf Gurbanov who obtained the leadership of the party after a dispute with Rustam Shahsuvarov. The party claims that it has 60.000 members, the party publishes the newspaper Azərbaycan Həqiqəti. At the parliamentary election of 5 November 2000 and 7 January 2001, at the parliamentary elections of 6 November 2005 won no seats, but the chairman Ramiz Ahmadov was not running due to health problems. At the municipal election of 17 December 2004, the party did very well, AKP is part of the Union of Communist Parties — Communist Party of the Soviet Union Official website

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Azerbaijan Liberal Party
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The Azerbaijan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in Azerbaijan. It was registered with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice on 15 August 1995, the supreme governing body of ALP is its Congress. The main everyday working organs are the Political Council, Executive Committee, at the last election, the party won 1. 3% of the popular vote and zero out of 125 seats, according to the official results of the Central Election Commission. The incumbent Chairman of ALP is the head of the ALP Executive Committee Avaz Temirkhan< who has been elected to this position on 12 September 2010 at the Party Congress. The incumbent Chairman of the Executive Committee is Elman Mammadzade, imameddin Zakiyev Liberalism Contributions to liberal theory Liberalism worldwide List of liberal parties Liberal democracy

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Communist Party of Azerbaijan (1996)
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The Communist Party of Azerbaijan is a communist party in Azerbaijan, a splinter-group from the main Communist Party of Azerbaijan. CPA-2 is led by Firudin Hasanov, cPA-2 developed close relation with the government of the country and for a brief period it was the only legally registered communist party in the country. Hasanov was a candidate in Azerbaijans 1998 presidential election and he arrived fourth obtaining 29.224 votes, leaders of the other Azeri communist parties describe Hasanov as a traitor for his collaboration with the government

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Compatriot Party
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The Compatriot Party is a political party in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. At the last elections, the party won 1 out of 125 seats, according to the CIA, the current leader of the party is Mais Safarli. 87 The Ministry of Justice said that 250 of the party’s 59,000 membership signatures were of minors and this still left the party well beyond the 50,000 threshold. Given the weakness of these pretexts, party chairman Gennadii Beliakov ascribed the rejection to the central government’s fears that the party would not be loyal to the president, as of March 2004 the party remained unregistered

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Musavat
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The Müsavat Party is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods, Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat, Musavat was founded in 1911 in Baku as a secret organization by Mammed Amin Rasulzade, Mammed Ali Rasulzade, Abbasgulu Kazimzade and Taghi Nagioglu. Its initial name was a Muslim Democratic Musavat Party, the first members were Veli Mikayiloghlu, Seyid Huseyn Sadig, Abdurrahim bey, Yusif Ziya bey and Seyid Musavi bey. Early Musavat members also included future Communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR Nariman Narimanov and this initiative was coming from Mammed Amin Rasulzade, who was then living in exile in Istanbul. Although Musavat espoused pan-Islamic ideology and its founder was sympathetic to the pan-Turkic movement, the Musavats programme, which appealed to the Azerbaijani masses and assured the party of the sympathy of the Muslims abroad, announced the following aims,1. The unity of all Muslim peoples without regard to nationality or sect, Restoration of the independence of all Muslim nations. Extension of material and moral aid to all Muslim nations which fight for their independence, help to all Muslim peoples and states in offense and in defence. The destruction of the barriers prevent the spread of the above-mentioned ideas. The establishment of contact with parties striving for the progress of the Muslims, the establishment, as need might arise, of contact and exchange of opinion with foreign parties which have the well being of humanity as their aim. The intensification of the struggle for the existence of all Muslims, during this time, the Musavat party supported some pan-Islamist and pan-Turkist ideas. Pan-Turkic element in Musavats ideology was a reflection of the ideas of the Young Turk revolution in Ottoman Empire. For them as well as for Bolsheviks, Constitutional Democrats and Denikinists and these accusations, centerpieces of a paranoid style in social-democratic politics, have endured in the historical literature far beyond their origins. After the Amnesty Act of 1913 dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, Mammed Amin Rasulzade returned to Azerbaijan, only after the February Revolution, when Musavat ceased to be a secret organization and became a legal political party did the newspaper officially become the partys organ. The Soviet historian A. L. Thus, Musavat became the political force of Caucasian Muslims. In October 1917 Musavat convoked in its first congress where it adopted new covenant,1. Russia has to become federative democratic republic based on the national and territorial autonomy. Freedom of speech, conscience, stamp, unions, strikes have to be confirmed by constitution, All citizens in spite of religion, nationality, gender and political ideology are equal in front of the law. Passport system is to be annulled, every citizen is given the right to move freely both inside the borders and outside the borders of the country. For all workers and office workers the day is limited with eight hours